We Want to See Jesus

(John 12:20-24)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last week,
We noticed three things in Jesus entry into Jerusalem:
1. First, we saw the Kings presentation.
As Jesus entered,
The Jews who had seen Him raise Lazarus,
As well as those who believed their testimony,
Came out to meet Him with palm branches in their hands,
Chanting from Psalm 118:26, Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the
LORD.
The fact that they were quoting a Messianic psalm,
And that they were greeting Him with palm branches
Which, as we saw,
Are symbols of joy and victory
Means they saw Him as the Messiah
The promised King.

2. We saw second, the Kings purpose.

The crowds were also crying out, Hosanna,
Which means, Save now, we beg you.
This comes from the same psalm, in verse 25, O LORD, do save, we beseech
You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity!

They knew that as the Messiah,

Jesus had come to save them
They thought from Romes tyranny,
But it was from an even more dangerous enemy: sin.
Thats one of the reasons He came riding on the back of a donkey:
He did this to fulfill prophecy.
He did it to show His humility.
But He also did this to show why He came:
To offer Himself as a sacrifice
To take the curse of Gods broken covenant
That was meant for His people on Himself
That He might free those who trust in Him
From the power and consequences of sin.

3. Finally, we saw the different reactions to His coming:

The crowds didnt understand
They thought He was a political Savior,
Not a spiritual One.

His disciples didnt understand

They were thinking the same thing as the crowds.
They wouldnt really know what Jesus was doing
Until He was glorified
Until He poured His Spirit out on them:

The Anointing that would teach them all things.

And the Jewish leaders didnt understand:

They thought their efforts to stop Jesus were failing:
John writes in verse 19, So the Pharisees said to one another, You see that you
are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him (v. 19).

But Jesus understood

He knew everything was happening
According to His Fathers plan.

B. Preview.
This morning, we get another glimpse into this plan:
John tells us the Jews werent the only ones
Who were interested in Him
There were some Gentiles who were as well:
They wanted to see Jesus.

Heres another indication

Of what the Father was intending to do to glorify His Son:
Jesus would be lifted up on the cross
To take the penalty of the broken covenant
To pay for the guilt of those who would trust Him
And for this sacrifice,
The Father would draw all men to Him

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Not every person who has lived,
Or who ever will,
But all kinds of men
Gentiles, as well as Jews.

Lets look at two things:

First, at these Gentiles who wanted to see Jesus.
And second, at Jesus, who wanted to see these Gentiles.
II. Sermon.
A. First, lets look at these Gentiles who wanted to see Jesus.
1. John writes, Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to
worship at the feast (v. 20).
We should note that the word John uses for these men
Tell us that they werent ordinary Greeks:
They were God-fearers
Those who believed in the God of the Jews,
Who had converted to their religion,
With the exception of their being circumcised
(Since they found that to be objectionable).
If these Greeks had been full converts to Judaism
If they had been circumcised
John would have called them proselytes.
They were basically in the same category
As Cornelius and his household

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Those the Lord sent Peter to preach to,
Which was the second group
The Lord built a bridge to in His mercy
When He began to send His Gospel out to the whole world
The first was the half-Jew, half-Gentile race
Known as the Samaritans.

The fact that they were God-fearers

And not just a group of curious Gentiles
Is further brought out
By their reason for coming to Jerusalem:
They came to the feast to worship
To worship the God of Israel
For His mercy to them.

Just an interesting side-note:

Because they were God-fearers, and not full proselytes,
They could not enter with the Jews
Into the inner court of the Temple:
They could only go as far as the Court of the Gentiles
The outer court of the Temple:
The same place Jesus found those buying and selling
Whom He drove out.

It was considered a capital crime

For a Gentile even a God-fearer to enter the inner court.

This is the very thing Paul would later be charged with
When he would bring four men into the Temple under a vow,
To prove to the Jews that he was keeping the law (Acts 21).
The Jews were so adamant about this law,
That the Romans actually allowed them to execute
Those who committed it.

The Law kept them separate from the Jews.

But the time was coming when that wall
Would be broken down by Jesus.

2. We should notice secondly,

That these God-fearers already knew about Jesus
Perhaps they heard of His miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead;
Or maybe saw His entrance into Jerusalem
And understood what the Jews were saying about Him
And they wanted to meet Him
So they approached Philip.
John writes, These then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee,
and began to ask him, saying, Sir, we wish to see Jesus (v. 21).

They may have come to Philip

Because he had a Greek name.
It could also have been

Because they knew where he was from:

Bethsaida of Galilee.
There were many Greeks in that area,
Which may be why his parents
Gave him a Greek name.
Its likely they thought
Philip would be more sympathetic to their request.

Notice the way they approached him

In a very humble and respectful way:
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
They knew they had no right to demand an audience with Jesus.
Perhaps they werent sure whether Jesus would allow it,
Since He was Israels Messiah
As well be reminded in a few moments,
Jesus ministry was mainly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But still, they hoped.

And finally, notice that they didnt merely want to see Jesus
To gawk at Him as though He was some kind of circus sideshow
They wanted to talk with Him
To get to know Him.

It appears from these things

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That the Spirit was working in their hearts.
We know from Gods Word
That there are two way He works:
He can bring conviction of sin
Generally a concern about the punishment
God threatens for our sins
To show us that we need Jesus.
We usually call this work awakening,
And very often it begins to move us in the right direction.

But sometimes He does more:

He creates in the soul a love for the Savior Himself
A desire to get to know Him,
To trust and receive Him,
And at the same time
A desire to turn away from sin.
That seems to be whats happening here:
The Spirit was drawing these God-fearers to Jesus
As He had already many of the Jews
As an indication of what the Father
Would shortly do on a much grander scale
To honor His Son.

3. Those of us this morning

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Who have turned from our sins
And trusted Jesus
Know what these men were experiencing.
When we came to Jesus, we came
Not just because we wanted
To escape from hell
(Though we did want to escape from hell)
We came because we wanted to see Him,
We wanted to get to know Him,
We wanted to learn more of what He was all about.
We wanted to know what really is right and wrong,
What really is pleasing to the Father.
When we turned from our sins, we turned
Not just because those who do these things
Will be condemned to hell
We turned because we too began to see sin
For what it really is:
Dishonoring to God
And harmful to our neighbor.

This is what Gods Spirit does

In the hearts of all who know Him:
He gives us love for what is good,
And makes us hate what is evil.

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Most of the people in this world

Believe they already do this.
But He opens our eyes to see what really is good,
What really is evil,
And causes us to respond to each
In a way that is honoring to God.

If the Lord has done that for you,

You know what Im talking about
And youve already turned from your sins
And trusted Jesus.

If you havent,
Then may the Spirit wake you up;
May He graciously show you the danger youre in.
May He open your eyes to the beauty of Jesus Christ,
And to how good His ways really are,
So that you will turn from your sins,
And trust Him to save you.

May He also show you

That Jesus stands ready to receive you
If you will
To forgive you of all the wrong youve done,

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To give you His perfect record of obedience,
And make you acceptable to the Father.

Thats what we see next.

B. Second, lets consider that Jesus wanted to see them as well.

It may not look like it on the surface,
But it was certainly in His heart.

1. First, we see their request was brought to Jesus.

John continues, Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and
told Jesus (v. 22).
Philip didnt know what to make of this,
So he went to consult with Andrew.
Jesus had said earlier
That He was sent only to Israel (Matt. 15:24).
When He had sent His twelve disciples out to preach,
He specifically told them not to go in the way of the Gentiles,
Or enter any of the Samaritan cities,
But to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matt. 10:5-6).
He already seems to have made some exceptions
With the woman of Samaria,
The Centurion with the sick servant,
And the Syrophoenician woman.
Would He want to talk to them?

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They didnt know,
And so they came to ask Jesus.

2. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to
be glorified (v. 23).
Rather than telling them no,
And repeating what He had earlier,
The fact that the Father was beginning to draw others to Him
Particularly these Gentiles
Was the indication that the time of His glorification had come.
Jesus will shortly tell us,
Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself (vv. 3132).

Jesus earlier said to the Samaritan woman,

Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22):
God had made the promise to them.
The salvation He would provide would come though them.
And it would be preached first to them.
But after they had had the opportunity first to accept or reject it,
Then the Gospel would be preached to the Gentiles
To all the rest of the nations:
Philip went and preached to the Samaritans,
Peter to the God-fearing Gentiles,
And finally, Paul went to the Gentiles.

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Jesus saw this as the beginning

Of His Fathers work
To draw all men to Him.

3. But there was something that had to take place

Before this could happen:
Jesus had to sacrifice Himself.
He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth
and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (v. 24).

If a seed remains in its container

If it isnt planted in the ground
It remains only one seed.
But if it is planted,
And germinates and grows,
It produces many more seeds.

Jesus said the same was true of Him:

If He held onto His life
If He didnt go to the cross
He would remain alone.
But if He laid His life down
If He willingly gave Himself on the cross
He would save many lives
Not just from among Jews,

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But from the entire world.

Was Jesus interested in these Gentiles who wanted to see Him?

Yes, He was
They appeared to be some
From that other sheep fold
Jesus had spoken of earlier (John 10:16).
Yes, He was interested in seeing them,
But not just now
He must first go to the cross,
He must die, be buried and raised,
And then enter into His glory
Thats where He would see them
When they would later join Him there.

The same is true for us.

Like them, we are a part of that same sheep fold.
Like them, we were born Gentiles
We were not Abrahams natural children
But we have become the spiritual children of Abraham
Through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus is also interested in seeing us,
And one day, we will see Him
When we join Him in glory.

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Again, for those of you who havent yet trusted Jesus,

Know that He has an interest in you as well.
He wants you to trust Him,
To turn from your sins and follow Him.
He promises you, if you will trust Him,
You will not be disappointed.
If you leave your sin, the world,
Your old life behind to follow Him,
He will bless you,
He will help you through this life,
He will bring you to heaven one day,
He will be very happy to see you
And allow you to get to know Him better.
All you have to do is come to Him now
Be willing to turn from your sins and trust Him.
Are you willing?
May the Lord grant that you are. Amen.
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